


Haunted

by GeorgeFredSlytherin



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Ghosts, Life Changes, Vietnam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 07:05:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19662280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeorgeFredSlytherin/pseuds/GeorgeFredSlytherin
Summary: Klaus has always seen ghosts.





	Haunted

**Author's Note:**

> TUA isn't mine.

Klaus doesn’t notice his ghosts at first. The ghosts have always followed him, ever since he was old enough to understand why some people were invisible to everyone but him. There are ghosts everywhere. He drowns them out however he can.

Vietnam is different. He detoxes quickly – wars are live or die and he doesn’t want to die. There are far more ghosts in the war. Everywhere around him is death and destruction. Here, everyone sees the dead, not just him. The only difference is that, while they see the dead bodies lying on the ground, he sees their spirits milling together. Some talk, some sit in shock and some cry with those they love over their own dead bodies. It’s horrible, but here, everyone experiences it. Klaus feels relief, and a little guilt for it.

And then Klaus comes back from Vietnam and the first thing he sees after smashing that stupid briefcase into a hundred pieces is a ghost. It’s a little old man with an enormous mustache, a cowboy hat and a gunshot through his head. The ghost isn’t a soldier, and, for the first time in ten months, Klaus is the only one who can see him.

Ben is there when he gets home and that’s something. He may be a ghost, but Ben is his brother. Then there’s chaos for the next couple of days – it feels like an eternity – until they save the world. So it’s only after that when Klaus starts noticing them. Whenever the swarm of ghosts thins around him there will be one or two. Uniforms, dark clothing, a bullet through the head – always aim for the head, if you can – or the heart or stomach or lungs.

Ghosts are supposed to cycle out, change, move on, GO AWAY. The uniformed ghosts – the boy barely old enough to drive and the man, too old to move when in danger and so SO many more - don’t move on. He doesn’t expect them to.

Klaus has always seen ghosts. These ghosts though, he deserves. These ghosts are his.


End file.
